Playing It Cool
by Louise Foxhall
Summary: For Round 4 of Taragh McCarthy's Word Limit Comp. Prompt: Playing it cool. James has changed and so have Lily's feelings. One-shot. Please R&R. Disc. I own nothing. Lily E/James P


_For Round 4 of the Word Limit Comp. Prompt: "playing it cool". _

**Playing It Cool**

_Remember, you have to play it cool... you have to be cool…you have to be calm and you have to be cool. No unnecessary contact, just focus, get the job done and go back to the compartment…_

James Potter stood in the corridor, polishing the lenses of his glasses on the tail of his shirt and talking to himself.

_You can play it cool; you're James Potter for Merlin's sake, cool is practically your middle name… _

He cracked a smile at the thought.

_Yeah, cool is no problem. Go on…go in... _

He reached out a hand and pulled the compartment door open to find Lily Evans deep in conversation with Remus and the other fifth and sixth years talking among themselves; he was late. Awkwardly, aware that his gaze was fixed on Lily - on the way one curl had escaped from her practical ponytail to curl over her ear and the way when she was talking animatedly her hands would gesticulate slightly in her lap as if she itched to get her point across better to her companion with a roll of her wrist or a curl of her fingers – he cleared his throat. Lily's head snapped up.

"Yes, Potter? Can I help you? You see -"

"- Actually, Evans -" he interrupted her pleasantly; "I was hoping that you would. You see, I was wondering if I was in the right place."

"You're in the Prefect's carriage so I highly doubt it, unless you're looking for Remus."

"Oh, no, I'm here for the meeting." He smiled.

_Cool remember, James, cool…don't lose it, don't rise…you're not here to argue (even though you love the repartee between the two of you); you're here to do a job…_

"I don't think so," she said with a derisive laugh, "You're not a prefect, Potter."

"No," he agreed amiably, "I'm not. I'm Head Boy." He plucked his badge from his pocket and held it out for her inspection. She raised her eyebrows.

"Funny, Potter, _hilarious_. Give Remus his badge back now."

_No, I won't, 'cos it's not his…_

_Cool, James…cool…_

"Honestly, Evans, Dumbledore sent the badge to me, not Remus." Her brow furrowed, that was the second time he'd called her "Evans". _Still, _she thought, _it's better than Lilykins _or_ Lily-poo _(Sirius's personal favourite).

"He's telling the truth, Lily," Remus told her, a wry smile making the skin crinkle around his eyes. Lily's lips thinned in a very good impersonation of Professor McGonagall.

"How did you manage that?" she hissed scathingly, "Did you have to _confund _Dumbledore?"

_Cool…_

"No, Evans, I didn't feel the need," he replied, conscious of keeping the nettled tone out of his voice, "I got in on my own merits, as I am sure did you. Shall we, er…proceed? I'm aware that we're running late so…" Lily huffed.

"Very well…" she turned to the other students and clapped her hands. "Could we have your attention please…?" the chatter slowly began to die down and Lily gave a nervous smile, "I am Lily Evans and I am your Head Girl for this year and," she turned to gesture to James with a grimace, "this is James Potter, your Head Boy."

There were a few mumbled "hi's" but there was mostly silence until a fifth year Slytherin spoke up.

"Hey, how come that both of you are Gryffindor's?" his lip curled in distaste. Lily rolled her eyes and waited for the response James was sure to give: _"Because we, unlike you, aren't pricks." _Or _"gits" _or (again, courtesy of Sirius) _"snake-snoggers"_. But it didn't come.

"Because Dumbledore picked us; we have no bearing on this decision, is that alright with you?" He refused to rise to the bait, he was being _cool_. _Cool and calm and collected. _Lily didn't seem to have noticed.

"Now that that is cleared up, can we carry on?"

The rest of the meeting passed without event: James spoke to Lily only when required to do so and always kept his voice level and indifferent. _Aloof, cool_…Lily seemed oblivious. On the way out he passed her without comment and made his way back to the compartment he was sharing with the other Marauders. She watched him go with a frown and returned to her own carriage, surprised she had made it through the last hour without having a single argument with Potter or without him feeling the need to ask her out; he'd hardly spoken to her at all and it surprised her, he had been polite and courteous but nothing more. He had kept the same, reserved smile on his lips the whole time but had not cracked any immature jokes whether at her expense or not…he seemed different, more mature.

Lily nearly laughed at that: James Potter, _mature_? She shook her head and flopped into a spare seat. It wouldn't last until dinner.

But it did. It lasted longer.

For the next few days, weeks, months, James distanced himself. He was cool with her, without being rude, he helped her on their rounds but his conversation was nothing more than formality, he opened doors for her and was ever courteous but there was none of the flourish that she was used to.

She began to watch him – maybe _this_ was what he wanted – and she saw him with his friends, still the same group of boys they'd been before, always ready for a laugh, always too loud too late at night but they weren't the same…

Lily watched James as he passed by Sev- no _Snape_, and saw him nod in his direction. No curse, no derogatory comment, a simple, jerky nod and then he moved on.

Lily watched him as he worked, bent over his homework one night, alone for a change in the corner and when he raised his head momentarily from his parchment and caught her staring he said nothing, he smiled slightly at her and returned to his work.

_Lily's looking at you! She's looking at you! _He peeked up from under his fringe and there she was, still looking his way. James's hands itched to clear the seat beside him of junk and motion for her to join him, an invitation she would accept and then they would have polite conversation before they – finally – leant into each other for that long awaited kiss

…_cool, James…remember you're acting cool. She'll come over if she wants to…_

He dipped his head once more and his quill continued scratching as he finished his Transfiguration essay.

"Erm…James?"

"Yes, Lily?" Neither were sure when this unspoken transition had occurred but sometime, on the rounds they undertook as part of their Head's duties, surnames had changed to forenames and a comfortable almost-friendship now existed between them.

"I was wondering could you help me with this?" she held up a piece of parchment with a grimace; you're better at Transfiguration than me.

_Wow! She complemented you, she actually complemented you…yesyesyes! _

"Er…"

_Cool James, coherent speech if you could…_

"Er…sure." He said, his voice dropping deeper as he gave her a friendly smile and cleared the space beside him. "What exactly do you need me to explain?"

"Just the last section…I am having trouble understanding the last part of the spell." He nodded and held out his hand for her parchment. Their fingers brushed and Lily's skin tingled at the contact but he said nothing as he began to scan her work for mistakes.

"Ah…that's where you're going wrong." He placed his finger at the top of one of her neat paragraphs.

"Oh?" she put her hand next to his as she quickly re-read it. That itching had started up in James's hand again.

_Do it…just do it, hold her hand…kiss her…yes…_

_NO! Play. It. Cool. She doesn't want any of that; she just wants help…_

"Yeah," slightly distracted by the hand beside his and the feel of her arm rubbing next to his and the smell of her perfume that lingered over her and in her hair he cleared his throat. "You say here that this is the end of the process, but actually you've missed out the crucial section before it so it makes no sense. Here…" he plucked the quill from her fingers and found another piece of parchment, intending to sketch her a quick diagram of the six – not five – steps.

"You will have to excuse my poor imitation of art." He told her with a grin. "But it's simple enough…you start here…"

James's voice faded to a comfortable buzz as he continued to work. She felt she could watch him work all day, the way his deft fingers held the delicate quill, the way he had splattered black ink across his tanned hands and exposed forearms…

"You got that?"

"Hmm…? Oh, yeah. Thanks, James." She took the two pieces of parchment and quill that he offered to her and made to go, head spinning; this was James Potter she was having these thoughts about, _James freakin' Potter! _

"You're welcome." She watched his lips form the words but did not hear his reply as she sat back down.

"I…" whatever she had been going to say was lost as she leant forward and pressed her lips to his.

_Yes, James, yes! This is it, she's kissing you. Lily Marie Evans is kissing you…she finally loves you too…what are you doing?_

James had pulled back and put some distance between her face and his.

"Lily?" Lily's face flushed scarlet. He did not want her anymore. He had waited too long and now she had changed her mind, he'd changed his too.

"Don't you want to kiss me?"

_Like Hell I don't…_

…_cool, gentle, calm…_

"Of course, I just want you to want to too." She bit her lip and nodded, looking embarrassed for a moment before coming close again, homework discarded.

"I do…" James grinned.

"Cool." And he leaned forward to instigate the kiss once more.


End file.
